The Best Revenge
by mmooch
Summary: Faith finally stumbles on the perfect plan to hurt Buffy. WARNING: Faith-bashing.


**The Best Revenge**

Summary: Faith finally stumbles on the perfect plan to hurt Buffy. WARNING: Faith-bashing.

Warning: You know with Faith, there's gonna be language and violence.

Timeline: season 4 BtVS; set during season 1 AtS _'Five By Five' _and_ 'Sanctuary'_. Ignore canon from later seasons.

Challenge: none; just read a story that pissed me off 'cause the way it portrayed Buffy during this time. Then I watched _'Five By Five'_ and the torture stuff made me think that Faith really was that evil.

A/N: This is generally from Faith's POV, but not written in first-person.

Thanks to my betas: zigpal, AshDawnSoulmates, and AerynSpeedleCaine.

Disclaimer: BtVS/AtS characters belong to Joss Whedon / Mutant Enemy. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.

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><p><strong>Random guy's apartment in LA<strong>

A little known fact about Slayers is that they are incredibly smart. It doesn't always translate into academic success, but nonetheless they are geniuses…they need to be in order to fight their enemies. One of the things they can do – whether they realize it or not – is to read their opponent's body language. And the more human the opponent, the better they are at it.

And in the case of Faith and Angel? Well, she's made her mistakes with him in the past, but that was because she trusted outside forces more than her gut. That wasn't going to happen again. That was why she suddenly had a flash of inspiration.

Soulboy was trying to help redeem her! Oh, that was too funny to consider. Didn't he realize that when she joined the Mayor, she sold her soul to evil? And she meant that in the Faustian sense; she _literally_ sold her soul. It was the Mayor's way of ensuring that she wasn't a plant by the white hats.

Just like that, Faith knew how she'd get even with B for ruining her life; for killing the only man she trusted not to use her for sex eventually; for making her feel like the bad copy.

She had hoped that sleeping with that boyfriend of her 'sister' Slayer would destroy her, but B didn't even seem that heartbroken by it, just pissed off – like when she borrowed B's favorite sword one night and got a nick in the blade. B just didn't like sharing her 'stuff', and that included her boyfriend.

While she traded blows and quips with Angel, Faith figured out that the way to get to B was through Angel. As fun as it might be to learn about vampiric stamina, she knew that sleeping with him wasn't an option 'cause of the soul curse thing. Besides, that would just be repeating her earlier actions with Farmboy.

No, this would be much worse. She'd turn Angel into _her_ champion instead of B's. When B found out – and Faith would make sure she did – it would eat her up inside that he picked a killer over somebody he claimed to love.

But she had to be careful about how to get him on her side.

Faith decided to risk overplaying it a little, hoping that the vampire with a hero complex wouldn't be suspicious about her sudden turnaround. She started out by fighting him, but held back enough that he would think she was weakening. When she thought that it had gone on long enough, she started screaming about how she was evil, and he had to kill her. She knew there was no way he'd _actually_ do it. If he gave up on her, it would be like giving up on his own stupid road to redemption.

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><p>It didn't even surprise her when he took her back to his apartment to keep her close by so he could help her. He wasn't even going to turn her over to the police! What a fucking idiot!<p>

Once he left her alone, Faith chuckled at the image in her head of B finding her in Angel's bed. Oh, that'd kill her! Too bad she couldn't figure out a way to make sure the blonde would come to LA. She'd just have to settle for somebody letting it slip in conversation. The two groups had to keep in touch occasionally. Especially with a dangerous 'rogue Slayer' on the loose.

As soon as she let the emotional dam burst, she was sobbing out all the evil things she did to the ice princess – including fucking her boytoy. It was hard to hide the smirk when she saw the shock and hurt in Angel's eyes that his true love had moved on. Pretending to be all remorseful was proving to be more fun than she could have hoped.

Later, she watched as her picture was plastered on the TV with the warning that she was dangerous and not to approach her. Thank goodness for the police and media! This was sure to get Blondie here – assuming anyone in Sunnydale actually watched the news.

He tried to assure her she was safe with him, but the effort was ruined when a demon attacked them. God, fighting to kill again felt so wonderful. Killing the creature felt even better. Even being evil didn't stop her need to slay things; that much was evident when she stopped by the church back in Sunnydale to go after those vampires instead of just taking off before B could catch up with her. All the Mayor asked was that she left his minions alone. Then something tickled on her senses, and she remembered to resume her broken expression, allowing Angel to comfort her when he thought she was horrified that she had blood on her hands again.

When he told her that Buffy was there, she pretended like she didn't already know. She kept looking beaten down and watched the scene unfold from the corner of her eye. Just as she'd hoped, B's face was priceless when she saw her in Angel's home and sitting on his bed.

After a couple minutes, Faith decided to turn the knife in B's chest a little more. She turned to the blonde and choked out her full first name, knowing it would make it sound more sincere to Angel. Like she hoped, the souled vampire stood up for her.

Then B uttered the words that made the evil in her itch for a fight. She wanted Faith to go to jail for her crimes. That wasn't gonna happen – at least not the way Blondie wanted. Figuring it would send the other Slayer over the edge, she started to apologize, hiding the smirk when B took the bait and threatened Faith's life.

The next few minutes made it hard for Faith to maintain her facade. Angel told her to leave the room, but Miss Perfect didn't want to let her out of sight…smart girl. Then the 'soulmates' exchanged literal blows. Since there wasn't anyone to see it, she allowed herself a smile for driving such a nice wedge between the two heroes. She could only imagine the conversation going on downstairs.

B would insist that Faith had to pay for her mistakes; Angel would counter that the things she did were just a bid for attention. B would say that Faith was just playing him; Angel would come back with the point that B couldn't understand what it was like to touch evil and try to return.

Did he even realize that was the reason he was so obsessed with B? That compared to _them_, B was a virtual saint, and he was drawn to the light coming from her. When she first got to Sunnydale, Faith had been the same way, but quickly realized that good and evil couldn't exist together. It burned one or the other, and currently B's goodness was stronger than Faith's evil. And yes, even back then, there had been a touch of evil in her which cast a shadow on her soul.

It didn't surprise her when B came after her, but she kept playing her role as the remorseful killer – although she managed to get a couple digs in at the self-righteous blonde. The surprise came when she saved Faith's life from the Council goons.

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><p>In the chaos that ensued afterwards, Faith slipped away to think about what to do next. She had her fun and caused a rift between B and Angel. She could go on the run now, but like Angel said earlier, when would it end? She had the police, the Council and now probably Wolfram &amp; Hart after her. The only good part was that B would be too busy on the Hellmouth to chase her for long.<p>

On the other hand, if she turned herself in, she'd prove B wrong. 'Cause the other Slayer was probably counting on her to take off and let them deal with the fallout. And it wasn't as if she couldn't get out of jail later – either by breaking out or by persuading Angel to get her out. All she'd have to do was convince him that her life was in danger.

Faith could tell when she walked into the police station to confess that there'd be a blow-out between the ex-lovers. She could only hope that the rift would be so bad that it would make being locked up worth it. Using a pause in her speech to the cops, she heard Angel tell B to get out of his town.

Yup, it was worth it.

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><p>AN: Before you get all pissy about the way I portrayed Faith, just keep in mind that we didn't _really_ know until later seasons that she was sincere in her desire to turn herself around. She could have been playing them during these episodes.


End file.
